Russians are starting to acknowledge that President Vladimir Putin has led the country to a dead end and can’t shape its future, according to a former senior official in the Kremlin. In a recent Economist op-ed authored anonymously, the former official pointed out that fellow government peers, regional governors and businessmen have stopped using the first person plural when describing Putin’s actions — describing what “he” does rather than what “we” do. That shift does not signal a rebellion is imminent, as the state still controls key levers of repression and fear, but it marks a meaningful psychological break among the elite.
The regime has stopped bothering to sell a narrative of national restoration or modernization, while the country loses enormous blood and treasure in Ukraine. The former official estimated the state has seized around $60 billion in assets from private businessmen over the past three years. High inflation has kept interest rates high, defaults have climbed, and warnings of a financial crisis have multiplied. Putin himself has retreated from public life, spending more time in underground bunkers micromanaging the war, paranoid about a coup or assassination attempt.
Even a survey from Russia’s state-owned pollster showed Putin’s approval rate has fallen to 65.6% from 77.8% at the start of the year and prewar levels well above 80%. Russia’s previous social contract — which let citizens enjoy private lives as long as they stayed out of politics — has collapsed, replaced by repression, intrusion and censorship. “The system can persist for as long as Mr. Putin remains in power,” the former official wrote. “But his every move to preserve and expand it accelerates decay.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.
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